American Pageant Chapter 18

Terms in this set (38)

Lewis Cass
Democratic senator who proposed popular sovereignty to settle the slavery question in the territories; he lost the presidential election in 1848 against Zachary Taylor but continued to advocate his solution to the slavery issue throughout the 1850s.
Stephen A. Douglas
An Illinois Senator who ran against Lincoln, Bell, and Breckenridge in the 1860 presidential election on a popular sovereignty platform for slavery, He also authored the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and heightened the slavery debate
Franklin Pierce
Democrat (1853-1857), Candidate from the North who could please the South. His success in securing the Gadsden Purchase was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the Ostend Manifesto, the Kansas Nebraska Act and "Bleeding Kansas." Passions over slavery had been further inflamed, and the North and South were more irreconcilable than before. He succeeded only in splitting the country further apart.
Zachary Taylor
(1849-1850), Whig president who was a Southern slave holder, and war hero (Mexican-American War). Won the 1848 election. Surprisingly did not address the issue of slavery at all on his platform. He died during his term and his Vice President was Millard Fillmore.
John C. Calhoun
(1830s-40s) Leader of the Fugitive Slave Law, which forced the cooperation of Northern states in returning escaped slaves to the south. He also argued on the floor of the senate that slavery was needed in the south. He argued on the grounds that society is supposed to have an upper ruling class that enjoys the profit of a working lower class.
Winfield Scott
Whig candidate in 1852; an impressive figure though one whose personality and support of the Compromise of 1850 repelled the masses. Southerners did not accept his loyalty to the fugitive slave law, and northerners deplored his support of the same law. He lost to Pierce.
Martin Van Buren
Presidential Candidate for the Free Soil Party in 1848
Daniel Webster
supported Clay's proposals and called for an end to the bitter sectionalism that was dividing the nation. Argued for Clays compromise in order to preserve the Union
Matthew C. Perry
U.S. Naval officer who opened trade with Japan
Harriet Tubman
American abolitionist. Born a slave on a Maryland plantation, she escaped to the North in 1849 and became the most renowned conductor on the Underground Railroad, leading more than 300 slaves to freedom.
William H. Seward
secretary of state under lincoln and johnson - set the precedent for increased american participation in the western hemisphere - engineered purchase of alaska and invoked the monroe doctrine to force france out of mexico
James Gadsden
A prominent South Carolina railroad man, appointed minister to Mexico. He negotiated a treaty in 1853 which ceded to the United States the Gadsden Purchase area for 10 million dollars.
Henry Clay
Distinguished senator from Kentucky, who ran for president five times until his death in 1852. He was a strong supporter of the American System, a war hawk for the War of 1812, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and known as "The Great Compromiser." Outlined the Compromise of 1850 with five main points. Died before it was passed however.
Millard Fillmore
(1850-1853) The Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850. California becomes a free state, territories chose popular sovereignty, Uncle Tom's Cabin. He helped pass the Compromise of 1850 by gaining the support of Northern Whigs for the compromise.
William Walker
A proslavery American adventurer from the South, he led an expedition to seize control on Nicaragua in 1855. He wanted to petition for annexation it as a new slave state but failed when several Latin American countries sent troops to oust him before the offer was made.
popular sovereignty
Notion that the people of a territory should determine if they want to be a slave state or a free state.
filibustering
Referring to adventurers who conduct a private war against a foreign country.
Free Soil party
Formed in 1847 - 1848, dedicated to opposing slavery in newly acquired territories such as Oregon and ceded Mexican territory.
Fugitive Slave Law
Enacted by Congress in 1793 and 1850, these laws provided for the return of escaped slaves to their owners. The North was lax about enforcing the 1793 law, with irritated the South no end. The 1850 law was tougher and was aimed at eliminating the underground railroad.
"personal liberty laws"
pre-Civil War laws passed by Northern state governments to counteract the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Acts and to protect escaped slaves and free blacks settled in the North, by giving them the right to a jury trial.
Underground Railroad
A system that helped enslaved African Americans follow a network of escape routes out of the South to freedom in the North
Compromise of 1850
(1) California admitted as free state, (2) territorial status and popular sovereignty of Utah and New Mexico, (3) resolution of Texas-New Mexico boundaries, (4) federal assumption of Texas debt, (5) slave trade abolished in DC, and (6) new fugitive slave law; advocated by Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas
"fire eaters"
refers to a group of extremist pro-slavery politicians from the South who urged the separation of southern states into a new nation, which became known as the Confederate States of America.
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
1850 - Treaty between U.S. and Great Britain agreeing that neither country would try to obtain exclusive rights to a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Abrogated by the U.S. in 1881.
Ostend Manifesto
A declaration (1854) issued from Ostend, Belgium, by the U.S. ministers to England, France, and Spain, stating that the U.S. would be justified in seizing Cuba if Spain did not sell it to the U.S.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
1854 - Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be a free or slave state through popular sovereignty.
Gadsden Purchase
Agreement w/ Mexico that gave the US parts of present-day New Mexico & Arizona in exchange for $10 million; all but completed the continental expansion envisioned by those who believed in Manifest Destiny.
Treaty of Wanghia
The first diplomatic agreement between China and America in history, signed on July 3, 1844. Since America signed as a nation interested in trade instead of colonization, it was rewarded with extraordinary amount of trading power.
10
Nashville
1
Gadsden Purchase
6
Kansas Territory
2
California
9
Washington, D.C.
3
Nebraska Territory
California gold rush
1849 (San Francisco 49ers) Gold discovered in California attracted a rush of people all over the country and world to San Francisco; arrival of the Chinese; increased pressure on fed gov. to establish a stable gov. in CA
Seventh of March Speech
This was a famous speech given by Daniel Webster when he was trying to work out the Compromise of 1850. In it, he fought for compromise. He asked for a stricter fugitive slave law and said that there was no need to legislate slavery in the territories because the land was not fit for it. His speech became widely printed and read, and it increased the popularity of Union and compromise.
Opium War
War between Britain and the Qing Empire that was, in the British view, occasioned by the Qing government's refusal to permit the importation of opium into its territories; the victorious British imposed the one-sided Treaty of Nanking on China.
Caleb Cushing
Opens up commerce in China and negotiated Treaty of Wanghia, first formal agreement between China and US, and granted US trading rights, also states that Americans will be tried in American courts, not chinese
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...
;